Stop and Smell the Copper
by Black Neko Gem
Summary: One shot. A sad little dark thing I thought up one day. Ryou is abused by his yami, who doesn't think about the consequences. But what will happen when it goes too far? I don't usually portray these two like this... what's gotten into me? Rated for descri


Stop and Smell the Copper  
  
Oh dear.... a sad fic... what's gotten into me?  
  
Umbra (my yami): Me, apparently.  
  
He he. Nah, I just thought of this a while ago while in the car. A gothic moment I suppose.  
  
Umbra: But you aren't gothic.  
  
Key word: MOMENT. He he he...  
  
Umbra: *sigh* Anyway.... this story is sad, and kind of dark, and it's rated the way it is because of descriptive violence (don't ask me, she just loves torturing people with big words) and maybe, just maybe a little yaoi in later chapters, if there are any. Or perhaps at the end. Arg, I don't know! Just read!  
  
Disclaimer: Black Neko Gem thinks she owns Yugioh. God help her.  
  
*glares at disclaimer lawyers*  
  
Notes:  
  
\weeee sugar is good\ =hikari mind link  
  
/good lord who let that kid in the sugar/ =yami mind link  
  
Malik= yami Marik= hikari  
  
Three ~'s= change of story/AN  
  
Five ~'s= mind-link "movie" (he he)  
  
Three *'s= change of scene within story Read it nooooowww...... | \/ ~~~  
  
The entire room stank of copper. Blood was everywhere, on the walls, on the floor... and more importantly, on the still form that lay curled in a defeated ball at Bakura's feet. Ryou lay there, trembling and whimpering, as his yami continued to rant, sheathed knife still in hand. The poor hikari could only hope that the knife stayed that way.  
  
"Why isn't there any dinner yet? Huh, vessel? Why not?" Bakura glowered down at his hikari, whose helpless chocolate eyes were shut tight in fear. "Answer me!" Slowly, his eyelids opened, and he stared at Bakura, shaking. He was still silent; he knew that even thoght Bakura would get pretty mad when he wouldn't answer, to talk meant to possibly give something away that might lead to much worse consequences.  
  
Bakura's booted foot crashed into Ryou's ribs; Ryou let out a pained cry and hugged his legs tighter around himself, whimpering softly. "I still don't hear any talking from you! Where is my dinner?!" Bakura had leaned over and pulled Ryou up by the hair until he was face to face with his worst fear. Was it just Ryou, or did he smell alcohol on Bakura's breath as he ranted more? Ryou was too far gone in pain to care what he said, and he knew now it was better to just tune it out, if he could.  
  
Suddenly Ryou couldn't breathe; his Millennium Ring was being pulled up and bringing its owner with it. When he staggered to his feet, he felt two cold hands grab his arms behind him and pull him close. For a panicked moment Ryou feared the worst, that the angered and perhaps rather drunken Bakura had finally decided to do away with his hikari, but Bakura merely dragged him to the door. Ryou was alert enough now to hear his yami yelling at him.  
  
"Well, vessel, if you're just gonna sit there like a little baby, then you need to do it out here!" Bakura thrust open the door and shoved his defenseless hikari recklessly into the snow. Ryou barely managed to get on his back and look at the shadowy form in the doorway before the uncaring wood of the door showed itself and a click was heard as it locked.  
  
"Oh man... what now?" he muttered to himself, hugging himself to keep warm. He leaned his head back and stared brokenly at the uncaring stars above. Soon he couldn't feel his fingers or toes, and he figured that the only way to keep warm was to sleep. His last conscious thought, random as it was, was: I bet he'd never call me aibou like Yugi's yami does....  
  
It would be hours before he would be found.  
  
***  
  
Bakura sighed and slumped into bed, hikari forgotten for the moment. He fell asleep almost as soon as he hit the pillow, and began to dream.  
  
--+--+--+-- (Dream sequence- A/N: My converting thing makes it so the italics aren't showing up, so I have to so it in the annoying, old-fashioned way. *Sigh* Life sucks, huh?)  
  
Ryou stands, trembling, waiting to be Judged. He is wearing a white outfit, and two beautiful wings have grown from his shoulder blades.  
  
Anubis appears, and holds a hand out for Ryou to take. He pulls the confused and scared hikari up onto a podium. "This won't hurt," he tells Ryou, before removing his heart and placing it on the Scale of Judgement, opposite the Feather of Truth. (A/N: I know this shouldn't work, since Ryou is only half a soul without Bakura, but I need it to be this way. Sorry. ^_^') Ryou waits for what seems like an eternity, trembling, while the scales balance out. The Feather is heavier.  
  
"Okay, Ryou. Congratulations, you did well." Anubis takes Ryou's heart off the Scale and gives it back to Ryou, who is smiling gladly. "And... how did you die, again? Just out of curiousity."  
  
"Anubis-sama, don't you have a Book that says that?" Ryou queried.  
  
"Oh, yes, I can't believe I forgot," Anubis replied, picking up the Book of the Dead and flipping through pages. "Killed by.... abuse.. from the other half of your soul?"  
  
"Yes sir... It's Bakura, my yami."  
  
"Perhaps we shouldn't have weighed you alone, since you're not a whole soul yourself." (A/N: There! I fixed it!)  
  
"No! I mean, please, sir, don't bring him here. I don't want to look at him..." Ryou shook, just thinking about Bakura. Anubis patted him on the shoulder and, understanding, sent him on his way.  
  
--+--+--+-- (End dream sequence)  
  
***  
  
"Get him to ICU and fast!"  
  
"We're losing him!"  
  
"Hang in there Ryou!"  
  
His mind was swimming. He heard those garbled voices. Yugi? Yami? What was going on? He started to get up, when suddenly he found that he was being restrained by about six hands, maybe more.  
  
"Don't fight us Ryou!"  
  
"That's a a good sign, it means he's waking up!"  
  
"I know, but still....!"  
  
He couldn't move, and he was breathing through some kind of mask. There were three big forces being impressed on Ryou's body at the moment: confusion, cold and sleepiness; eventually sleepiness took over and he drifted off again without a second thought.  
  
When he finally awoke, he first heard the sound of breathing. Some of it was right next to him. He opened his eyes.  
  
It was Bakura! With a muffled cry, Ryou struggled to get as far away from the tomb robber as possible. This aroused the sleeping Bakura, and he raised his head, stared at his hikari for a few moments, and then looked at his feet again.  
  
Ryou stopped struggling, a strange feeling having come over him. Was it just him, or did he see a hint of... guilt... in the chocolate eyes so like his own?  
  
He spoke, his voice hoarse from non-use. "Ba-Bakura...?" Bakura refused to look up again. Ryou tried once more, then was disheartened and slumped back down in his bed. Suddenly he remembered something, something that could not be refused.  
  
\Bakura?\  
  
Silence, then, a faint, /....yes?/  
  
\Bakura, where are we? How did I get here?\  
  
/You sure you... trust me enough to ask me that?/  
  
\What is that supposed to mean?\  
  
/I think I should....show you. I've had a bit of an epiphany./  
  
Ryou could hardly believe what he was hearing. Bakura sounded almost apologetic, and definitely repentant. Soon his senses were taken over as his yami showed him the past two hours.  
  
~~~~~~  
  
(Two hours ago, er, duh)  
  
Bakura was sleeping almost peacefully (had it not been for his dreams), when he was roughly shaken awake. It was Malik, who, although he normally looked angry, looked positively thunderous. His eyes abruptly snapped fully open. "What is it, Malik?"  
  
"What have you done?!" Malik's voice was husky with rage and grief. "You're supposed to protect him!"  
  
"What?!" Bakura stumbled out of the room, to find Marik, Yugi and Yami all huddled around a small figure in front of the fireplace. Yami turned around to see the visitors, and glowered at Bakura when he saw him.  
  
"You beast!"  
  
"What is everyone talking about- oh." Bakura had fnially gotten close enough to the others to notice what- who- they were warming up. It was a frozen boy, cold, snow- covered and unconscious. His white hair was--  
  
--WHITE HAIR?!! HOLY RA!! Bakura shoved Yugi aside and knelt down in front of Ryou's still form, checking for a pulse. Once he felt one, slow and unsteady but at least there, he stood up again. "Dumb kid should know better than to sleep in the snow," he muttered.  
  
That was the last straw for Malik. He clasped the tomb robber by the shoulders and pinned him to the wall. "YOU IDIOT!!" he roared. "YOU COWARDLY BEAST! YOU DON'T EVEN REALIZE WHAT YOU'VE DONE?! I WAS BORN PURELY OF THE EVIL IN MY HIKARI, AND I KNOW BETTER THAN THAT!!" There was now spit on Bakura's white, terrified features, but he made no move to wipe it away. "YOU'VE KILLED RYOU, YOU MONSTER!!"  
  
"...Killed.....?" was all that Bakura could manage without squeaking. He glanced at the still form, an icy hand gripping his heart for a moment. What if Ryou had....? He did not deserve that. Not at all.  
  
At that moment Malik released him, the sound of an ambulance making itself known outside the front door. Five men rushed in, carefully picked up Ryou, and took him out. Bakura was the last one to stumble, starstruck and numb with shock, outside. He saw them dressing up Ryou's frostbite and... he couldn't watch. To Bakura's ancient eyes, it appeared to him that the men were doing an impromptu embalming ceremony. Bakura looked away, biting his bottom lip.  
  
Malik and Marik drove the silent and morose Bakura to the hospital, where the now-stabilized Ryou slept. When they entered his room, Bakura's usually-ignored heart sank, to see his hikari looking so frail and helpless under all those blankets and immense technology... and knowing it was all his fault... He quietly sat down, looking at him. He was so out of it, he did not know that he had sat down right beside Yami, who for the moment was putting aside their differences and was willing to help. His concern stirred Bakura, and he looked at the pharaoh, confused.  
  
"Pharaoh.... what happened?" he murmured, staring at his hikari.  
  
"I don't know, Bakura. Perhaps that is one of the many questions you should be asking yourself. I know another one, tomb robber," he added as Bakura began to hide his face with his mane of hair, "Ask yourself: Why does Ryou still wear the Millennium Ring, which harbors you, even though you beat him and abuse him?"  
  
Bakura was silent.  
  
"I know the answer," Yami said, answering the question for Bakura. "It is simply because he wants to love you, Bakura. He sees Yugi and I, and he thinks he could try to make it that way between you. But you aren't responding to his movements to try and be friends. But he has a strong heart, Bakura. He kept on trying, but I think you may have just broken the final straw." Yami's face was grim, and Bakura's heart was heavy with shame. Every detail of the pharaoh's statement was true. He hung his head.  
  
"I... don't know where it went wrong, pharaoh..."  
  
"It went wrong when you forgot he was the other half of your soul, Bakura."  
  
"Perhaps that's true, pharaoh...."  
  
~~~~~  
  
Ryou was speechless. He'd never imagined such a scene coming through their mind link... yet, there it was, in living color. Bakura's eyes were glassy, but when he finished showing it they carefully cleared up. Hikari and yami sat silently for a moment, hikari reflecting on the past five minutes, and yami regretting the actions shown in them.  
  
"Bakura.." Ryou began hesitantly. Bakura looked up. "Do you remember my favorite card?"  
  
The ghost of a smile was barely visible on Bakura's face. He nodded. "Of course. The Change of Heart. Why do you ask?"  
  
"Because, Bakura..." Ryou laid a frail, white hand on Bakura's permanently tanned one. "I think you represent that card now."  
  
Bakura sat, not knowing what to say, his mind clouded with emotions and half-formed thoughts. Before he could do anything, however, Ryou embraced him in a warm hug. This was the breaking point. The tears flowed freely and silently down Bakura's face as he returned the embrace of his ever-forgiving hikari.  
  
"Thank you.... aibou," Bakura whispered, closing his eyes and losing himself in his hikari's love.  
  
~~~  
  
Wee! It's done! So sweet! But... OOC! I've never done one like this before...! But I like it!  
  
Umbra: yes..... very nice.... *sleeps*  
  
She's not an evening person, don't mind her ^_^ Anyway, see that pretty little button down there? *does Jedi mind trick* You want to push the button. Your mouse is moving towards the button.... Your finger is putting pressure on the button....!!  
  
R n r! ^_^ And this is a one-shot. Bye bye!  
  
~Black Neko Gem 


End file.
